Know the Whole Story Before You Rhink Ypu Know the Story

Writing isn't easy, and writing a practiced story is even harder.

I used to wonder how Pixar came out with such great movies, year later yr. Then, I found out a normal Pixar film takes six years to develop, and near of that time is spent on the story.

In this article, you'll learn ten secrets about how to write a story, and more importantly, how to write a story that'due south expert.

Everything I Know About How to Write a Story

Since I started The Write Practise a few years ago, I've been trying to wrap my caput around this question, how to write a good story. I've read books and blog posts on writing, taken classes, asked dozens of authors, and, of form, written stories myself.

The following ten steps are a distillation of everything I've learned virtually writing a good story. I promise it makes writing your story a piffling easier, merely more than that, I hope information technology challenges y'all to step deeper into your own exploration of how to write a story.

Await! Need a story idea? We've got you covered. Get our top 100 brusk story ideas here.

1. Write In One Sitting

Write the first draft of your story in every bit curt a time as possible. If yous're writing a short story, try to write it in i sitting. If you're writing a novel, attempt to write it in one flavour (three months).

Don't worry too much near plotting or outlining beforehand. You can do that one time you know you have a story to tell in the first place. Your offset draft is a discovery process. Yous are like an archeologist earthworks an aboriginal city out of the clay. You might have a few clues about where your city is buried beforehand, but you don't know what information technology will expect like until it's unearthed.

All that'due south to say, get digging!

2. Develop Your Protagonist

Stories are nigh protagonists, and if you don't have a adept protagonist, you won't take a proficient story. The essential ingredient for every protagonist is that they must make decisions. Victor Frankl said, "A human beingness is a deciding beingness." Your protagonist must make a determination to get herself into whatever mess she gets into in your story, and likewise, she must come up to a crisis signal and decide to go herself out of the mess.

To farther develop your protagonist, use other graphic symbol archetypes like the villain, the protagonist'due south opposite, or the fool, a sidekick grapheme that reveals the protagonist'south softer side.

iii. Create Suspense and Drama

To create suspense, ready a dramatic question. A dramatic question is something like, "Is he going to brand it?" or, "Is she going to get the man of her dreams?" By putting your protagonist's fate in incertitude, you lot brand the reader ask, What happens next?

Note: To practise this well, you need to carefully restrict the catamenia of information to the reader. Nothing destroys drama like over-sharing.

4. Prove, Don't Tell

Honestly, the saying "testify, don't tell" is overused. Even so, when placed adjacent to the stride above, it becomes very effective.

When something interesting happens in your story that changes the fate of your character, don't tell us about information technology. Show the scene! Your readers have a right to see the all-time parts of the story play out in forepart of them. Show the interesting parts of your story, and tell the rest.

v. Write Expert Dialogue

Good dialogue comes from ii things: intimate knowledge of your characters and lots of rewriting.

Each graphic symbol must have a unique voice, and to make sure your characters all audio different, read each grapheme's dialogue and ask yourself, "Does this sound like my character?" If your answer is no, then you have some rewriting to practice.

Too, with your speaker tags, try non to use anything but "he said" and "she said." Speaker tags like "he exclaimed," "she announced," and "he spoke vehemently" are distracting and unnecessary. The occasional "he asked" is fine, though.

half dozen. Write Virtually Decease

Think about the last five novels you lot read. In how many of them did a character dice? Good stories ofttimes involve decease.Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Charlotte'south Web,The Lord of the Rings, and more than all had main characters who died. Death is the universal theme because every person who lives will one mean solar day dice. Tap the power of expiry in your storytelling.

7. Edit Similar a Pro

Most professional writers write three drafts or more. The beginning typhoon is frequently called the "vomit draft" or the "shitty first draft." Don't share information technology with anyone! Your showtime draft is your hazard to explore your story and figure out what it's about.

Your second draft isn't for polishing, although many new writers will try to polish as soon as they can to clean up their embarrassing commencement draft. Instead, the 2nd draft is meant for major structural changes and for clarifying the plot and characters of your novel or the key ideas of your non-fiction book.

The 3rd draft is for deep polishing. Now is when everything starts to gel. This is the fun part! Only until y'all write the offset two drafts, polishing is probably a waste product of your fourth dimension.

viii. Know the Rules, Then Break Them

Adept writers know all the rules and follow them. Great writers know all the rules and break them. Still, the best writers don't break the rules arbitrarily. They pause them because their stories require a whole new set of rules. Respect the rules, but recall that you don't serve the rules. You serve your stories.

9. Defeat Author'southward Block

The best manner to defeat writers block is to write. If you're stuck, don't try to write well. Don't try to exist perfect. Just write.

Sometimes, to write better stories, you have to start by taking the pressure off and just writing.

10. Share Your Piece of work

Y'all write better when you know someone will soon be reading what you've written. If you write in the dark, no one will know if yous aren't giving your writing everything you have. Merely when y'all share your writing, you confront the possibility of failure. This will strength you lot to write the all-time story you possibly can.

One of the best ways to write a story and share your writing is to enter a writing contest. The theme will inspire a new creation, the deadlines will keep yous accountable, and the prizes will encourage you to submit—and maybe win! Nosotros love writing contests here at The Write Practice. Why non enter our next i?

How to Write a GOOD Story

All these tips will assistance y'all write a story. The trick to writing apracticed story? Practice.

When y'all cease the story you're writing, gloat! Then, start your next i. At that place's no shortcut too this: keep writing. Fifty-fifty using the best book writing software or tools like ProWriting Aid (check out our ProWritingAid Review) won't help compared to standing to write.

What are your best tips on how to write a story? Permit me know in the comments.

Exercise

Do yous have a story to tell?

Write the outset draft in i sitting using the tips to a higher place. Then, share a few paragraphs of your practice here in the comments department. And if you share your practise, exist certain to exit feedback on a few practices by other writers, too.

Proficient luck!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Exercise community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a existent life risk story set in France. Information technology was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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Source: https://thewritepractice.com/write-story/